SURVEY: Majority in NH support Right to Work, including union members

A majority of Granite Staters support Right to Work, including UNION members. Chart by UNH Survey Center

Today, the University of New Hampshire Survey Center released a survey in which they ask Granite Staters about some hot topics that are happening in the state. One of the biggest pieces of legislation that is going to be voted on by the house this week is “Right to Work” legislation. It is a bill (Senate Bill 11) that simply gives workers the freedom when it comes to paying “agency fees” to unions they don’t want any part of. Currently workers have these fees forcibly taken from their paycheck because of the forced union status of New Hampshire.

The Right to Work bill will no longer allow unions to take this money from workers who don’t want them to. These are workers who have chosen not to join the union but because they are working in a business with a union, they don’t have the freedom not to pay the agency fees. From the survey:

The New Hampshire Legislature is also considering “right to work” legislation that would change the relationship between employees and labor unions in the state. This proposed law would prohibit unions from forcing non-union members to pay fees to the union.

A plurality of New Hampshire residents (49%) do not believe an employee should be required to help pay for the costs associated with negotiations between a company and a union even if the employee is not in the union, 19% think an employee should be required to help pay for these costs, while nearly a third (32%) don’t know or are unsure. These figures are similar to shoe seen in 2012 when similar legislation was vetoed by Governor Lynch. Republicans (57%) and Independents (49%) are slightly more likely than Democrats (40%) to say that an employee should not be required to pay in this situation, but partisan differences on the issue appear to be smaller than in other issues.

Frequent listeners of conservative talk radio (69%), those between the ages of 50 and 64 (58%), and Donald Trump voters (55%) are more likely to believe employees should not be required to pay for these costs. But even a plurality of union households (41%) believe employees should not have to pay union negotiation costs.

Interesting that 69% of those who listen to conservative radio support Right to Work as well. These are the Republican primary voters, something for Republicans to think about before they vote on this bill. The bill came out of the Labor Committee as “Inexpedient to Legislate” thanks to anti-worker freedom Republicans who hold allegiance with unions over the constituents they are supposed to represent.

What is also interesting is the percentage of union households who are for Right to Work. Unions try to claim their own members are against Right to Work when the reality is they are not. Only 19% of union households are actually against it. Union leaders don’t seem to think their own members are smart enough to understand that they’ll still be able to be members of their unions.

Union leaders never represent all of their members when it comes to ideology or policy, Right to Work is just another example. Union leaders are constantly pushing extreme left wing policies despite many of their members believing the opposite. One of the reasons some union members want worker freedom is due to the extreme politics of union leaders.

Union leaders are also behaving as if Right to Work is the end of unions, it is not. Unions will still exist and still be created in the Granite State, the same way they are now. Workers will still have the freedom to create a union or join a union. The only difference is union leaders will not be allowed to forcibly take money from non-union members who don’t want to have anything to do with the union. Right to Work is about worker freedom and a majority of Granite Staters, across the board, believe workers should have that freedom.